10 things you need to know today: March 30, 2016

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1. Republican candidates back away from pledge to support party's nominee
2. Supreme Court tie upholds public union fees
3. Trump campaign manager charged with misdemeanor battery
4. North Carolina attorney general won't defend anti-transgender law
5. Virginia governor vetoes effort to defund Planned Parenthood
6. Foxconn agrees to buy Sharp for $3.5 billion
7. Major ally quits embattled Brazilian president's coalition
8. Scott Walker endorses Ted Cruz ahead of Wisconsin primary
9. Yellen's caution on interest rate hikes lifts stocks
10. Actress Patty Duke dies at 69

published 30 March 2016

1. Republican candidates back away from pledge to support party's nominee

In CNN's Republican Town Hall on Tuesday, GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump backed away from a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee, saying " a lot has changed" since he made the promise. "We'll see who it is," he added. Ohio Gov. John Kasich also cooled on the commitment, saying he "probably shouldn't have even answered the question" in a debate last fall. Sen. Ted Cruz sounded reluctant to support Trump, citing Trump's recent criticism of his wife, Heidi Cruz. Trump said he doesn't "need" Cruz's support.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday split 4-4 over a major challenge to organized labor, in which California teachers argued that forcing them to pay public teachers union dues violates their free-speech rights. It was the most significant case yet that the court has been unable to resolve since the February death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia left the liberal and conservative wings evenly split. The tie means a lower court decision upholding the fees will stand.

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Jupiter, Florida, police on Tuesday charged Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump's campaign manager, with misdemeanor battery for an incident at a March 8 event. Michelle Fields, who then was a reporter for the conservative news website Breitbart News, said Lewandowski grabbed her and yanked her arm while she was trying to ask Trump a question. Lewandowski had denied the altercation occurred, but Jupiter police released a video clearing showing him grabbing Fields. Trump defended Lewandowski, saying Fields "grabbed me" before Lewandowski stepped in.

North Carolina's Democratic attorney general, Roy Cooper, said Tuesday that he would not put up a court defense for a new state law banning local ordinances protecting gay and transgender people from discrimination. "Not only is this new law a national embarrassment, it will set North Carolina's economy back if we don't repeal it," said Cooper, who is running for governor this year. Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Republican, said Cooper should resign because "his zeal for pandering" for liberal support for his campaign was keeping him from doing his job.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) on Tuesday vetoed a bill passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature seeking to block funding for Planned Parenthood. McAuliffe campaigned on a promise to serve as a "brick wall" against any effort to place restrictions on women's health services. President Obama has vetoed a similar bill that passed Congress. The Virginia bill's Republican sponsor, Del. Ben L. Cline, said McAuliffe was "clearly listening to his friends in the abortion lobby" instead of steering tax money to the best health-care providers.

Foxconn Technology Group and Sharp Corp. agreed Wednesday to a plan for Foxconn to take over the Japanese consumer electronics maker for $3.5 billion. The deal came after months of negotiations, and marks a big victory for Foxconn. The Taiwanese electronics assembler has been pursuing Sharp for months, and cut its original offer from $5.5 billion. Foxconn assembles iPhones at factories in mainland China, and acquiring Sharp, which makes iPhone screens, will give Foxconn a bigger role in Apple's supply chain.

The biggest party in the coalition government of embattled Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff dropped out on Tuesday. The seven members on the leadership council of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party voted unanimously to abandon Rousseff, and take an "independent" position on whether she should be impeached. The move was expected, but it was not immediately clear whether some of the other 11 parties in the coalition would leave, too. Six PMDB members now serving as Cabinet members must now resign or face disciplinary action.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) endorsed Ted Cruz on Tuesday, giving the Texas senator a potentially significant lift ahead of the state's presidential primary next week. Walker praised Cruz as a "constitutional conservative," and the GOP candidate with the strongest chance to beat Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in November. GOP frontrunner Donald Trump criticized Walker for his state's deficit, and said he didn't expect Walker's support "after the way I beat [him]" in the early primaries, before Walker dropped out of the presidential race.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Tuesday that the central bank still appears on course for two small interest rate hikes this year, as the U.S. economy continues to show progress despite global economic weakness. Yellen did not give any indication about the timing of the future increases, countering several Fed officials who say a hike should come soon. The Fed was projecting four hikes this year in December, when it raised rates from near zero for the first time in years. Yellen's remarks gave U.S. stocks a boost Tuesday, and helped fuel a global rally Wednesday.

Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke has died of sepsis from a ruptured intestine, a representative confirmed Tuesday. She was 69. Duke won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, a role she had played on Broadway. She later became a pop culture icon with her own TV series, The Patty Duke Show, in which she played "identical cousins" — a minor-trouble-prone American teen and her better-behaved cousin from Scotland. Duke was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1982 and later served as a mental health advocate.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.